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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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Presumably this will also put pressure on Canada as a whole to produce a government that is capable of acceding to Trump's demands, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of his goals.

For the US, this is probably just a normal Saturday.

I'm a lot more interested in what those in Southern Ontario will do, which is where the vast majority of Canadian manufacturing lives- this is where the impact will be felt the most, and unlike angry Albertans they're a lot closer to Ottawa. (Interestingly, all of that strategically important industry is within striking distance of American artillery while that artillery sits on their side of the border; nobody who thinks Canada could put up a fight realizes the country is just as vulnerable as South Korea is. Yes, the territory is very defensible- just take the bridges out- but they can just sit back and shell the factories, something that the Americans could not do the last time they invaded.)

For that matter I'm not at all convinced the Liberal government has an effective tit-for-tat tariff plan. I think they'll target something symbolic of the US like, say, guns... but that's about it. It might also not be long-term possible considering this appears to be a treaty violation on its face, but perhaps I don't understand those correctly and as you mention it doesn't necessarily need to be permanent.

he sees tariffs as a temporary financial shock that will cripple the other nations far faster than they'll cripple the US

And considering it hurts those who voted for him directly the most, probably best to get that one out of the way early (automotive manufacturing in the US is about to take a big hit considering how much they buy from Magna). Kind of like Biden's cancelling that pipeline as a day 1 goal, come to think of it.

For that matter I'm not at all convinced the Liberal government has an effective tit-for-tat tariff plan. I think they'll target something symbolic of the US like, say, guns... but that's about it.

Check again. Universal tariffs from Canada just got announced.